Women's Track & Field

Women's Indoor Track & Field Finishes in 2nd at N.E. Div. III Champs

Senior Jackie Brew

Feb 22, 2014

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - No. 2 MIT women's indoor track and field team wrapped up the New England Division III Championships at Springfield College on Saturday afternoon in second place out of the 28 teams present with 119 points. No. 6 Williams College finished in first place with 150 points and No. 14 Tufts University placed third with 94.

After running a 7.91 in preliminaries of the 60m, senior Jackie Brew (Amherst, N.H.) ran a 7.89 at finals, breaking her own MIT record by one one-hundredth of a second to finish in fourth place. In prelims, junior Veronica Szklarzewski (Chicago, Ill.) crossed the line in 11th place with a time of 7.99. Szklarzewski was eighth in the Long Jump later in the day with a 16-10.50. Brew went on to take sixth and earn three points in the 200m with her 26.25, while freshman Kendra Knittel (Tucson, Ariz.) came 21st in 27.17.

Freshman Alexandra Shade (San Diego, Calif.) placed highest for the Cardinal and Gray in the 600m in 1:40.97, running just two tenths of a second slower than her season best time to take ninth. In the 800m, junior Cindy Huang (Mountain View, Calif.) crossed the line in 2:19.54 to finish in third, while senior Louise van den Heuvel (Nashua, N.H.) placed seventh with her time of 2:21.52. A handful of events later, van den Heuvel won the Mile in 5:01.93 and freshman Maryann Gong (Livermore, Calif.) took fourth with a time of 5:07.21. Gong placed second in the 3000m in 10:16.26.

The weekend after setting the MIT freshman and varsity record in the 1000m, freshman Christina Wicker (Oak Harbor, Wash.) came in 12th place in the event with a 3:10.53. In the 5000m, junior Elaine McVay (San Ramon, Calif.) was third in 17:59.01, also coming in 11th place in the 3000m in 10:31.80 a few events earlier. Sophomore Nicole Zeinstra (Holland, Mich.) also ran the 5000, finishing in 10th place with her time of 18:35.06.

Brew crossed the line in second place in the 60m Hurdles with a time of 8.93, earning a best time and missing the school record by just over a tenth of a second. Tech's 4x400 relay was 12th with a 4:10.05, while the 4x800 relay earned 10 points by coming in first place with a 9:32.25, finishing almost five seconds ahead of Tufts' relay. MIT's Distance Medley Relay came sixth in 12:37.98, leaving a 10 second gap between it and Tufts' relay.

In the High Jump, three Engineers placed in the top five, with all of the top eight finishers ending up with jumps of 5-03.00. Senior Jaclyn Konopka (Novi, Mich.) and junior Preethi Vaidyanathan (South Windsor, Conn.) tied for second place and freshman Stephanie Guo (Houston, Texas) came in fifth place. Sophomore Cimran Virdi (Walnut Creek, Calif.) was third in the Pole Vault when she cleared the bar in 11-03.75, classmate Sherry Wan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was eighth with a 10-10.00, and juniors Abigail Klein (Bethesda, Md.) and Joanna Chen Richland, Wash.) were 10th and 11th, both with vaults of 10-04.00.

After earning a personal best performance in the Pentathlon last night, senior Stephanie Birkhimer (Oneonta, N.Y.) came in fifth place in the Triple Jump with another personal record of 36-02.25, while junior Michelle Johnson (Glendora, Calif.) finished directly behind her in sixth place with a 35-08.75. In the Shot Put, sophomore Isabella Stuopis (Amherst, N.H.) threw a 42-10.25 to take third, while junior Ashley Wheeler (Milford, N.H.) was seventh in the Weight Throw with a new personal record throw of 48-02.00.

MIT returns to the track next Friday, Feb. 28 for the NEICAAA Championships, which will take place at Boston University through Saturday, March 1.